WorkSafeBC expands wood dust cleanup

The Babine Forest Products mill continues to smoulder Monday after the explosion and fire Friday that destroyed the sawmill.Dave Milne
/ Special to the Vancouver Sun

The Lakeland Mills sawmill in Prince George went up in flames after a blast, leaving 21 people with burns ranging from minor to severe. Several were airlifted to burn treatment centres.David Mah
/ for PNG

Bob Clark, the top forester in charge of managing British Columbia’s mountain pine beetle infestation, has been recruited by the province to lead response efforts at Burns Lake after a sawmill explosion that killed two workers.Dave Milne
/ Specail to The Sun

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WorkSafeBC has expanded an order to clean up wood dust that is an explosive hazard to include panel and wood pellet plants.

The order released today also includes pulp and paper mills.

The workplace safety agency already ordered the cleanup of sawmills in April after two deadly explosions in northern B.C. earlier this year killed four workers and injured dozens.

"Wood processing and paper product operations have been selected because of their high risk of combustible dust explosion due to large amounts of dust produced or handled in these facilities," Betty Pirs, vice-president of prevention services, said in a news release. "Like all WorkSafeBC inspections, orders will be issued to employers based on violations observed during the inspections," she said.

WorkSafeBC plans to have the first round of inspections of the 280 new plants complete by late August.

The inspections will focus on dust cleanup, ventilation and dust control issues.

In a first-round blitz of sawmills in early May, at least 11 B.C. Interior sawmills had hazardous levels of wood dust a week after WorkSafeBC issued cleanup orders, according to WorkSafeBC documents obtained by the Vancouver Sun through a freedom of information request.

The cleanup order to 173 sawmills was issued just one day after two workers were killed in an explosion and fire at Lakeland Mills in Prince George on April 23.

An explosion and fire at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake on Jan. 19 also killed two workers.

Safety regulators and industry representatives have not directly linked the two deadly sawmill explosions to wood dust, but dry wood dust from beetle-killed pine is being investigated as a factor in both.

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